Core Dating in New Zealand

CORE DATING IN NEW ZEALAND
By Jay Erickson


This morning is another typical winter’s morning at the Orcas hotel located near the Orcas Island ferry landing, in Washington State. With people bustling, they order an early morning cup of coffee and pastry before loading onto the first ferry of the island or red eye as the locals call it.

As the ferry pulls away, the winter’s day calm is restored and I have a chance to enjoy the scenery and
a cup of coffee. Sitting next to me is Eric, a long time island resident.
Eric stands about six foot tall with light brown hair neatly cut and a front cowlick that arches to the left.

Eric has aged well, looking ten to twelve years younger than his fifty-two years. Eric has a relaxed demeanor and directs an occasional deep stare toward the horizon, the type of stare a person acquires when living in desolate parts of the world or being at sea for long periods of time.

I hadn’t seen Eric around the islands lately but I had heard stories about his leaving to work as a cook in places such as Antarctica, at a science research station and Siberia, along the Kamchatka Peninsula on the eastern coast of Russia during winter on a fisheries supply cargo ship.

I was curious to find out, so I asked him. “Eric, where have you been working lately?”

Eric took a sip of coffee and looked out the window toward the ferry landing while wiping his mustache with a napkin as if to gather his thoughts.

“I’ve been cooking on the research vessel Roger Revelle. The ship, crew and science party have been off the coast of the north island of New Zealand doing some fascinating studies that will help them understand the climate changes thousand of years ago.”

Eric began to explain, “The chief scientist, Dr. Liz Sikes, from Rutgers University and her crew of scientist with graduate students from New Zealand and the USA, relies on a crew of technicians to work a device called a piston corer, to collect a twenty foot long core sample of mud from the ocean floor. Some samples are from depths of eight thousand feet.”

As Eric describes the piston corer to me I imagine a long ballpoint pen with a large eraser or weight at the top. When on the ocean floor suspended by a cable, the piston inside the pen would be drawn up creating a vacuum, similar to when someone drinks an extra thick milk shake. Fingers, the like of daisy petals pointing back inside the tube keeps the mud from spilling out when the samples get pulled to the surface.

The results are a core sample when sliced in half long wise, and viewed by an expert’s eye can divulge the past record of climate change.

From the array of layers some dark blue-gray, typically the sediment from zooplankton. To the gritty, lighter in color, sand like layers consisting of volcanic ash from terrestrial eruptions. Under sea eruptions show as sooty black sand streaks. Dr. Sikes takes samples of the creature deposits on both sides of the ash. Dr. Sikes told Eric that the calcium carbonate from the shells of the zooplankton could be carbon dated. Carbon 13 will reveal past temperature and carbon 14 will date the material.

Dating the beginning and the end of the ash sediment is important because the scientist can then find out how long a particular eruption took to settle. This information tells them how slow or fast the oceans were moving during that period.

A slower moving ocean will hold more carbon dioxide to be exchanged into the atmosphere. The bottom layer of ash from this core was estimated at twenty thousand years.

“Eric, it sounds As if you are part of the science party.”

“No I spent plenty of time in the galley cooking for all forty-five people on board.” Eric chuckled.

“Any favorite menu items you can tell me about, Eric?” I asked.

Eric’s food descriptions made me hungry, just listening how Eric prepared a short bill swordfish the crew had caught on the ship. Marinating the fillets in lemon grass, Thai curry and coconut milk and after grilling the fillet gets garnished on top with a fresh mango salsa. To complement the meal and offer an additional meal choice for those people that may not eat fish, Eric served pork tenderloin marinated in hoi sin sauce. Both dishes were cooked on the barbeque and served with rice cooked with coconut milk. A chocolate cookie offered with New Zealand ice cream was the final entry.

We noticed that familiar bustling around us as a ferry was about to dock.

Eric gets up and said, “Here’s my ferry.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I’m flying to Cape Town, South Africa to crew up on the Revelle. We will be doing physical ocean studies on runaway currents that travel around Cape Horn.”

Eric’s last remarks while going out the door to catch the ferry were. “New Places, new spices.”

Eric, have a safe trip and may the wind be to your back. And I will be looking forward to having coffee with you with your return.


Eric’s Recipes: 
Hot cereal bread 
Thai marinated fish 
Mango Salsa 
Hoi sin Pork Tenderloin 
Broccoli and bok choy 
Coconut rice 
Chocolate chip cookie 
Measurements are from repetition and memory. Climate and mood may affect the outcome…


HOT CEREAL BREAD: 
Two cups cooked oatmeal or cream of wheat hot cereal 
Three cups water 
¼ cup sugar 
Three tablespoons dry yeast 
Add above ingredients together and let ferment 4-5 hours or while you are at work. 
In a large bowl finish the dough by adding: 
Four ounces olive oil 
5 pounds unbleached white flour 
Two tablespoons salt 
Kneed for 5-8 minutes 
Dough should be soft but holds it shape. Adjust flour as needed. 
Proof for half an hour too three hours. 
Shape into four loaves and let rise until double in size. 
Bake in a 450-degree oven with a pie tin of water on the bottom shelf for humidity. 
30-45 minutes


THAI MARINATED FISH: 
5 pounds swordfish 
4 tablespoons red Thai curry 
3 tablespoons fine chopped lemon grass 
3 tablespoons minced garlic 
10 ounces coconut milk unsweetened 
Marinate fish for at least 5 hours or over night 
Cook on barbeque or pan fry until flesh turns opaque. 
Garnish with mango salsa. 

MANGO SALSA: 
One mango, diced small 
¼ cup red onion, diced fine 
Two tablespoons ginger root, minced 
One-tablespoon garlic, minced 
One Serrano chili, minced 
Two tablespoons cilantro, chopped 
One-ounce rice vinegar 
Zest and juice of one lime 
Pinch of salt 

PORK TENDERLOIN MARINADE: 
Four ounces hoi sin sauce 
Three tablespoons ginger root, minced 
Three tablespoons garlic, minced 
Four ounces soy sauce 

COCONUT RICE: 
Four cups long grain rice washed three times 
1-16 ounce can unsweetened coconut milk 
Place rice in a two-quart saucepan or bigger that has a tight fitting lid. 
Wash and drain water three times. 
Add coconut milk and add enough water to cover rice one inch. 
Cook on medium high heat, uncovered until rice level is above liquid. 
Turn heat to low and put on lid for five - ten minutes. 
Stir and turn off heat and let sit another five-ten minutes. 

BROCCOLI AND BOK CHOY 
Three cups broccoli florets 
Three cups bok choy ¾ inch diagonal slices 
One cup sliced leek 
Two tablespoons coarse chopped garlic 
One Serrano chili diced fine 
One-ounce soy sauce 
One-tablespoon sesame seed oil 
One-tablespoon peanut oil 
In a hot wok or sauté pan add the oils, leeks, chili, garlic, and broccoli. 
Cook a couple of minutes and add the bok choy, then cook a minute longer and add the soy sauce. 
I prefer not to overcook the vegetables. 
Serve 






CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES 
Two pounds butter 
One-pound brown sugar 
Two cups white sugar 
Five eggs 
Two tablespoons vanilla extract 
Six cups white flour 
Two pounds chocolate chips or broken chocolate bits 
One-tablespoon baking soda 
Two-teaspoon salt 
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon 
Have all the ingredients at room temperature. 
Beat the butter until light, add both sugars and continue beating until light and fluffy. 
Add eggs one at a time. 
Add vanilla extract. Mix well 
In a separate bowl place dry ingredients and mix with a hand whip until thoroughly blended. 
Add flour mix and chocolate pieces and mix just until moistened. Over mixing at this point will create tough cookies. 
Bake in a 350-degree oven for 8-12 minutes


Elizabeth's Favorite Almond Cookies

Elizabeth's Favorite Almond Cookies
By Jay Erickson

Taster testers:
Sarah Purkey & Caitlin Whales


4 cups sliced almonds
2 pounds butter (room Temperature)
6 eggs (room temperature)
1-pound dark brown sugar
3 c white sugar
8 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1-teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
350 degrees oven
10 - 12 minutes or until lightly brown.

Toast 3 cups sliced almonds and chop very fine in a food processor.
(Save one-cup un- toasted almonds to roll cookie ball in.)

In a mixing bowl beat butter until light and fluffy
Add brown sugar and white sugar and continue beating until well mixed
Add eggs one at a time
Add almond extract
Add toasted almonds and mix thourgly
In a separate bowl, Wisk together flour, baking soda and salt. If you desire a little cinnamon or nutmeg, now is the time to add it.
Add the flour mixture to the butter and almond mixture and beat just until mixed.

Cookie dough does well to sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before shaping but you have just created so much dough, your bound to put some away for another use such as the bottom of a 7 layer bar or a chocolate topped almond bar.

With a teaspoon, drop a mound of dough about an inch round in the sliced almonds you have saved. With your three fore fingers press the ball, gently flattening, and pick it up placing it on your baking sheet pan in one easy motion.

My convection oven lightly browned the cookies in seven minutes.
But a home standard oven may take ten to twelve minutes to brown at 350 degrees.